Police say the Newtown gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, used a semi-automatic Bushmaster assault rifle, similar to the M4 carbine used by the U.S. military. He also had two handguns, a Glock 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol and a SIG Sauer. The massacre occurred just miles from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the nation’s second-most-powerful pro-gun lobby in the country after the National Rifle Association. We host a debate on...

In the deadliest rampage at an elementary school in U.S. history, 20 first-grade students and six staff members were killed Friday in Newtown, Connecticut. All of the children killed were six and seven years old. They were all shot multiple times. At a vigil for the victims Sunday night, President Obama vowed unspecified action to curb gun violence in the United States. "We can’t tolerate this anymore," Obama said. "These...

In his endorsement of President Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed reservations about Obama’s first term, including a lack of "real progress on illegal guns." We’re joined by Paul Barrett, Bloomberg Businessweek assistant managing editor and author of "Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun." [includes rush transcript]

For the first time in 40 years, the University of Colorado is allowing students with concealed-carry weapons permits to keep guns at some off-campus housing. The decision was made in accordance with the state Supreme Court’s ruling in March that found the university’s gun ban violated a 2003 state law allowing concealed firearms. It comes just months after former University of Colorado graduate student James Holmes shot dead 12...

On the eve of the first presidential debate, President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are being urged to address the problem of gun violence. Wednesday’s debate is taking place less than 10 miles from the site of the Columbine school shooting and 15 miles from the Aurora theater where 12 people were killed in July. At the site of the 2007 massacre that left 32 people dead at Virginia Tech, we’re joined by Colin...

Amy Goodman sits down with activist, poet and scholar Nikki Giovanni at Virginia Tech, where Giovanni is a distinguished professor of English. Giovanni recounts her experience of the 2007 massacre and shares her thoughts on gun control. She briefly taught Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho poetry before demanding that he leave her class over disruptive behavior. In a memorial address the day after the massacre, Giovanni told mourners:...

The Republican National Convention took place in Florida, where the state’s so-called "Stand Your Ground" law has come under sharp criticism following the shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin by self-appointed neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, earlier this year. The shooting incident has emboldened some supporters of Stand Your Ground. On the convention floor, Amy Goodman spoke with one of the law’s...

With an average of 32 people killed by guns in this country every day—the equivalent of five Wisconsin massacres per day—both major parties refuse to deal with gun control. It’s the consensus, not the gridlock, that’s the problem.

Six Sikh worshipers were killed in Wisconsin on Sunday after a gunman, possibly a white supremacist, opened fire in the deadliest attack on Sikhs in recent memory. The gunman entered a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and killed at least six people and critically wounded three others before a police officer shot him dead. The suspect has reportedly been identified as Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old Army veteran. Police say they are...

Many members of the Sikh community say the massacre in Oak Ridge has shaken their sense of security. Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world with more than 25 million followers, of which roughly 500,000 live in the United States. We’re joined from Wisconsin by John Nichols, a political writer for The Nation whose article on Sunday’s killing spree is "Shootings at a Temple Test the Founding Faith of America,"...